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Managing Food Waste, Improving Food Safety? The Case of Gutter Oil in China

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Regulatory Issues in Organic Food Safety in the Asia Pacific

Abstract

In recent years there has been growing public concern in response to food safety problems in P.R. China. The discussion has focused on the widespread overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which has implications for food safety. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the impact of food waste on food safety. The increasing urbanization of mainland China and the rising affluence of its citizens has led to a change in dietary habits and consumption patterns. This in turn has led to an increase in food waste generation, greater contamination of the environment and more severe food safety risks. To review China’s food waste management strategies, this chapter presents the case study of “gutter oil” (illegal cooking oil from leftovers or used oil and animal parts). It finds that the increase in food waste has had consequences for environmental pollution and health as a result of poor environmental decision making, insufficient food safety standards and non-transparent food labeling.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Global Food Loss and Waste, World Bank (2015). Retrieved from: https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/global_food_loss_and_waste.html. [Accessed on 18 June 2019]

  2. 2.

    Hegnsholt, E., S. Unnikrishnan, M. Pollmann-Larsen, B. Askelsdottir, and M. Gerard, “Tackling the 1.6-Billion-Ton Food Loss and Waste Crisis”, Boston Consulting Group, 20 August 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/tackling-1.6-billion-ton-food-loss-and-waste-crisis.aspx.[Accessed on 18 June 2019]

  3. 3.

    Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations, Food Loss and Food Waste. Retrieved from: http://www.fao.org/food-loss-and-food-waste/en/. [Accessed on 18 June 2019]

  4. 4.

    Lin, A.Y, S. T. Huang, M.L. Wahlqvist, (2009), “Waste Management to Improve Food Safety and Security for Health Advancement”, Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 18(4):538.

  5. 5.

    Ngoc B. D. T, G. Kumar, C. Lin, (2015), “An overview of food waste management in developing countries: Current status and future perspective”, Journal of Environmental Management, volume 157, page 220, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.04.022. [Accessed on 24 June 2019]

  6. 6.

    Envirunion, Food Waste Management Industry in the Thirteenth-Five Year, Beijixing. Retrieved from: http://huanbao.bjx.com.cn/news/20190211/961661.shtml. [Accessed on: 20 June 2019]

  7. 7.

    Thyberg K.L. and D. J. Tonjes, (2016), “Drivers of food waste and their implications for sustainable policy development”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, vol. 106, p. 12.

  8. 8.

    Papargyropoulou, E., R. Lozano, J. K. Steinberger, N. Wright, Z. Ujang, (2014), “The food waste hierarchy as a framework for the management of food surplus and food waste”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 76, p.107, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.04.020. [Accessed on 22 June 2019]

  9. 9.

    Rasmussen, C., Vigsø, D., Ackerman, F., Porter, R., Pearce, D., Dijkgraaf, E., et al., 2005. Rethinking the Waste Hierarchy. Environmental Assessment Institute, Copenhagen, p.1.; Porter, R.C., 2002. The Economics of Waste. Resources for the Future, Washington DC, p. 137; Price, J.L., Joseph, J.B., 2000. Demand management: a basis for waste policy: a critical review of the applicability of the waste hierarchy in terms of achieving sustainable waste management. Sustainable Development. Vol 8, Issue, 2, p. 97.

  10. 10.

    Papargyropoulou, E., R. Lozano, J. K. Steinberger, N. Wright, Z. Ujang, (2014), “The food waste hierarchy as a framework for the management of food surplus and food waste”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 76, p.115, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.04.020. [Accessed on 22 June 2019]

  11. 11.

    Li, J., Cui, N., & Liu, J. (2017). “Gutter oil: an overview of Chinese food safety issues and policies”. Global Health Promotion, 24(3)75. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757975915623733

  12. 12.

    Chen, S. “Chinese restaurant staff jailed for cooking with ‘gutter oil’, South China Morning Post, 27 April 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2091125/chinese-restaurant-staff-jailed-cooking-gutter-oil . [Accessed on 20 June 2019]

  13. 13.

    Li, J., Cui, N., & Liu, J. (2017). “Gutter oil: an overview of Chinese food safety issues and policies”. Global Health Promotion, 24(3)75. https://doi.org/10.1177/1757975915623733

  14. 14.

    The situation of food waste in China, China-Nengyuan.com. Retrieved from: http://www.china-nengyuan.com/baike/5371.html. [Accessed on 20 June 2019]

  15. 15.

    China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, “The experiences of controlling food waste in other countries”, Sohu.com, 10 October 2018. Retrieved from: http://www.sohu.com/a/258665185_100001695/ [Accessed on 20 June 2019]

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    Number of catering service industry, National Bureau of Statistic of China. Retrieved on: http://data.stats.gov.cn/easyquery.htm?cn=C0. [Accessed on 20 June 2019]

  17. 17.

    Bai, J. T.L. Wahl, B.T. Lohmar, and J. Huang. 2010. Food away from home in Beijing: Effects of wealth, time and “free” meals. China Economic Review 21(3):439.

  18. 18.

    Chawang Zhongguo, Review of Food Safety Problem: Gutter Oil, Sohu.com, 26 August 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.sohu.com/a/167402318_425345. [Accessed on 20 June 2019].

  19. 19.

    Branigan, Tania (2 December 2008). “Chinese figures show five fold rise in babies sick from contaminated milk”. The Guardian. London.

  20. 20.

    Scott McDonald (22 September 2008). “Nearly 53,000 Chinese children sick from milk”. Google. Associated Press. Jane Macartney (22 September 2008). “China baby milk scandal spreads as sick toll rises to 13,000”. The Times. London.

  21. 21.

    He, C.; Han, G.; Liu, Y. (2019), “Food Safety Satisfaction in China and Its Influencing Factors: Empirical Study with a Hierarchical Linear Model”. Safety, 5(1):17.

  22. 22.

    Ibid, 18.

  23. 23.

    Ibid, 19.

  24. 24.

    Liu, G. (2014). “Food Losses and Food Waste in China: A First Estimate,” OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers 66, OECD Publishing, p.3.

  25. 25.

    These are the National Development and Reform Commission, The Ministry of Housing, Urban-Rural Development, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture.

  26. 26.

    Liu J., J. Lundqvist, J. Weinberg, and J. Gustafsson (2013), “Food Losses and Waste in China and Their Implication for Water and Land”, Environmental Science & Technology,47 (18)10142. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/es401426b

  27. 27.

    State Council, “Notification on building harmless municipal waste treatment facilities during the Twelfth-Five Year Plan”, 19 April 2012. Retrieved on: http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2012-05/04/content_2129302.htm. [Accessed on 20 June 2019].

  28. 28.

    National Development and Reform Commission, “Plan of building harmless municipal waste treatment facilities during the Thirteenth-Five Year Plan”, December 2016. Retrieved on: http://www.ndrc.gov.cn/zcfb/zcfbghwb/201701/W020170123357045898302.pdf. [Accessed on 21 June 2019]

  29. 29.

    Ibid.

  30. 30.

    Zhou, G. (2017), The Regulatory Regime of Food Safety in China , Studies in the Political Economy of Public Policy, Palgrave Macmillian, page 74, DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50,442-1

  31. 31.

    Five highlights on new food security law, Hualv.com, 28 June 2019. Retrieved on: https://www.66law.cn/special/shipinanq/. [Accessed on: 30 June 2019]

  32. 32.

    State Council, “Suggestions on strengthening gutter oil and kitchen waste management”, 13 July 2010. Retrieved from: http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2010-07/19/content_1658092.htm. [Accessed on 21 June 2019]

  33. 33.

    Thi, N., G. Kumar, C. Lin (2015), An overview of food waste management in developing countries: Current status and future perspective. Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 157, p. 220.

  34. 34.

    Zhou, G. (2017), The Regulatory Regime of Food Safety in China , Studies in the Political Economy of Public Policy, Palgrave Macmillian, page 98, DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50,442-1

  35. 35.

    Liu J., J. Lundqvist, J. Weinberg, and J. Gustafsson (2013), “Food Losses and Waste in China and Their Implication for Water and Land”, Environmental Science & Technology,47 (18)1043. DOI: 10.1021/es401426b; Liu, G. (2014). “Food Losses and Food Waste in China: A First Estimate,” OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, OECD Publishing, p. 13; Sinkule, B. J. and L. Ortolano, (1995), Implementing Environmental Policy in China. U.S.: Praeger Publisher, p.6.

  36. 36.

    Ibid, p. 13.

  37. 37.

    Lieberthal, K. (1997). “China’s Governing System and Its Impact on Environmental Policy Implementation”, China Environment Series 1, Wilson Centre, http://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/china-environment-series-11997, p.3 (Accessed 28 June 2019).

  38. 38.

    Mertha, A. (2005). China’s “Soft” Centralization: Shifting Tiao/Kuai Authority Relations. The China Quarterly, 184, 791. doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741005000500

  39. 39.

    Lieberthal, Kenneth G., and David M. Lampton, editors (1992) Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision Making in Post-Mao China. Berkeley: University of California Press, page 12. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0k40035t/

  40. 40.

    Ross, L. (1988). Environmental Policy in China. U.S.: Indiana University Press, p. 199; Shapiro, J. (2012). China’s Environmental Challenges. U.K.: Polity Press, p. 69; Morton, C. (2010). “Policy Case Study: The Environment”. In W. A. Joseph (Ed.), Politics in China: An Introduction. N.Y.: Oxford University Press, p.284; Heilmann, S. (2011). “Policy-Making through Experimentation: The Formation of a Distinctive Policy Process”, in S. Heilmann and E.J. Perry (Eds.), Mao’s Invisible Hand: The Political Foundations of Adaptive Governance in China. U.K.: Harvard University Asia Center, pp. 63.

    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.11.016. [Accessed on 23 June 2019]

  41. 41.

    Ross, L. (1988). Environmental Policy in China. U.S.: Indiana University Press, p. 190.

  42. 42.

    Alpermann, B. (2010). “State and Society in China’s Environmental Politics”. In J.J. Kassiola and S. Guo, (Eds.). China’s Environmental Crisis: Domestic and Global Political Impacts and Responses. N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 130; Wu, L., Ma, L. and Qi Y. (2012). “An Analysis of Policymaking Process of Provincial Environmental Policy: Case Study of the Ecological Compensation Policy for Conservation of Water and Soil in Shannxin and Yunnan”, China Population, Resources and Environment, 22(3): 90.

  43. 43.

    Zhao, X. (2012), “Investigation on profit chain of gutter oil”, Tencents.com, 20 April 2012. Retrieved from: https://news.qq.com/a/20120420/001619.htm. [Accessed on 23 June 2019]

  44. 44.

    Zhou, G. (2017), The Regulatory Regime of Food Safety in China , Studies in the Political Economy of Public Policy, Palgrave Macmillian, pp.231–232. DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50,442-1

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Natalie W. M. Wong

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  1. School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, Faculty of Law, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

    Bee Chen GOH

  2. School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

    Rohan Price

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Wong, N.W.M. (2020). Managing Food Waste, Improving Food Safety? The Case of Gutter Oil in China. In: GOH, B., Price, R. (eds) Regulatory Issues in Organic Food Safety in the Asia Pacific. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3580-2_7

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